This invention relates in general to a boat mooring station, and in particular to a boat mooring station upon which a floating boat is moved to lift the boat out of the water for safe storage.
The inventor, having over 20 years experience in the marine industry, has observed that very little improvement has been made in the area of mooring stations. Desired traits that existing mooring stations fail to provide are to be simple, inexpensive, easily movable, easily disassembled for portability, and have the ability to safely raise the boat out of the water.
The problems of improper on-water storage of boats accounts for a considerable amount of damage. Existing systems that do lift the boat above the water are typically heavy, complicated to assemble, burdensome to transport, and difficult to position in and remove from the water. The common "boat lift" station has been around for many years. This type of "boat lift" has four (4) corner posts that support a platform that is raised or lowered by use of pulleys and cable actuated by a turning wheel. The platform has padded rails that lift the boat once it has been floated over them. Such boat lifts provide good protection, but are very heavy, are complicated to assemble, lack portability, and are limited to a narrow range of water depth in which it can function.
The inventor has seen several attempts to achieve adequate boat mooring. These systems usually provide some degree of boat containment that leaves the boat subject to damage by high wave action. In many cases the damage results from the boat beating against the mooring station itself. Further, the inventor is unaware of any prior boat mooring station design that can be adapted to boats from 12 feet to over 24 feet in length, is lightweight for easy positioning, offers a high degree of portability, lifts the boat above the waterline, and is easy to assemble. Such a mooring station is badly needed in this time of limited and expensive marina dockage space.
Dickerson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,428, is an example of a containment style mooring station. Typically, some kind of telescoping legs to adjust to varying water depths is used. Also, padded boards are used to contain the bow of the boat. The main problem with this style is that it does not lift the boat out of the water, but only confines a floating boat. High wave action is likely to cause the boat to ride up onto the pads or beat down on the station, either of which can cause severe hull damage.
This inventor's mooring station solves all of these problems. The invention is lightweight for portability, easy to assemble and disassemble, lifts the boat out of the water for protection, can be used in a wide range of water depths and shoreline conditions, and can be adapted to boats from 12 feet to over 24 feet in length.